When the Walt Disney Studios released Dinosaur nearly twenty-five years ago it marked a landmark effort to do a photorealistic film focused on dinosaurs at the heart of a story by an animation studio. Other photorealistic films incorporated dinosaurs to be sure; but they remained tools in a more classic monster-movie genre.

Regardless, dinosaurs and paleontology have been critical components of visual entertainment long before Disney's Dinosaur and the Jurassic films, and will almost certainly continue in their importance well into the future.

Dr. Stuart Sumida is, on one hand, a paleontologist and president of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, the largest professional organization of paleontologists in the world; and on the other hand, a frequent anatomical consultant for animation, visual effects, video games. television, and theme parks. 

In this conference, he will trace the history of the importance of dinosaurs and paleontology from film and animation's very beginnings, review of their impact on current popular media, and offer a scientist's perspective on the power and importance of collaboration between animators and paleontologists, and with scientists in general.